Earlier this month the White House released a report entitled Increasing College Opportunity for Low-Income Students: Promising Models and a Call to Action. The promising models included in this report may be very helpful to school leaders that will apply for grants from the state’s new $250 million California Career Pathways Trust fund and that are developing Local Control Accountability Plans. Leadership is needed at all levels to improve the educational outcomes for low-income students.

 The report:

• Emphasizes a need to better prepare and draw high-performing students from disadvantaged backgrounds to college, and more importantly, help them graduate.
• Highlights interventions that will help low-income students overcome barriers to college success that exist at every stage of the education pipeline.
• Found just 1 in 10 people from low-income families have a bachelor’s degree by age 25, compared with half of all people from high-income families. And by earning a college degree, the report says, the chance for children born in the bottom quintile of income distribution to move to the top quintile nearly quadruples.
• Categorized major barriers facing low-income students into the following four areas:

1. Connecting more low-income students to colleges where they can succeed and encouraging completion once they arrive on campus.
2. Increasing the pool of students prepared for college.
3. Reducing inequalities in college advising and test preparation.
4. Seeking breakthroughs in remedial education.

 Thanks to all the teachers for all you do to help students meet their educational goals!